06/06/2005
Austin Texas
Author: Austin Business Journal
An affiliate of Capstar Partners LLC, a private investment firm in Austin, bought DMX Music Inc., a digital music and visual image programming company operating in more than 100 countries, for $75 million.

Until the purchase, the majority owner of Los Angeles-based DMX had been Liberty Media Corp. (NYSE: L) of Englewood, Colo. Scooping up DMX was THP Capstar Inc., an affiliate of Capstar Partners that represents the company's partnership with Dallas-based private equity firm Trinity Hunt Partners, which specializes in investments in companies in the media, manufacturing, business services, health care and consumer products industries.

Earlier this year, DMX and THP Capstar signed an asset purchase agreement for the sale of DMX's U.S. operations, which was subject to a court-approved sale process. THP Capstar was the successful bidder in an auction conducted May 9 in Wilmington, Del. Silver Point Finance LLC of Greenwich, Conn. provided debt financing for the deal.

"DMX Music is backed by the strongest balance sheet in the industry,which translates into better products, stronger infrastructure and expanded capabilities for our customers," says John Cullen, president of DMX. Final decisions haven't been made about management or the headquarters for DMX, Cullen says, although Austin is being considered for the headquarters. "Though we would love to have DMX Music in Austin because of proximity to Capstar's management team, we have to assess the finances before moving forward," Cullen says.

In addition to its current Los Angeles headquarters, DMX has offices throughout the United States and in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Japan and the United Kingdom. The company has one of the world's largest digital music and video libraries, and distributes its services to more than 11 million homes, 180,000 businesses and 30 airlines, with a worldwide daily listening audience of more than 100 million.